# Philosophical Thoughts



## Aletheia (Apr 16, 2011)

I'm sure we all have them from time to time. I thought it'd be interesting just to share them.

So, yeah. Post any substantial thoughts about life, the universe, and everything. That you have.

I have a medium-sized collection in my journal but I'm too lazy to post it right now


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## Zero Moment (Apr 16, 2011)

Okay, here's a rather large collection.


How will I know why my Internet stopped working

If my Internet stopped working?


If actions are stronger than words

Why is the pen mightier than the sword?


If anything is possible

Is it possible for something to be impossible?


What would happen if I took the red pill and the blue pill at the same time?


Is there another word

For synonym?


The next sentence is true.

The previous sentence is false.


Why is it called the common cold

If it's a different virus each time?


If you expect the unexpected

doesn't the unexpected /become/ the expected?


If the opposite of pro is con

Is the opposite of progress congress?


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## opaltiger (Apr 16, 2011)

> How will I know why my Internet stopped working
> 
> If my Internet stopped working?


Call your ISP?



> If actions are stronger than words
> 
> Why is the pen mightier than the sword?


Because you're mixing metaphors.



> If anything is possible
> 
> Is it possible for something to be impossible?


Yes.



> What would happen if I took the red pill and the blue pill at the same time?


Nothing, because The Matrix is fictional. :D



> Is there another word
> 
> For synonym?


Not to my knowledge.



> The next sentence is true.
> 
> The previous sentence is false.


I think you'll find your logic is a bit faulty.



> Why is it called the common cold
> 
> If it's a different virus each time?


Because it's a different variant of the same virus.



> If you expect the unexpected
> 
> doesn't the unexpected /become/ the expected?


No.



> If the opposite of pro is con
> 
> Is the opposite of progress congress?


No.

Well, that was easy. Maybe I should be studying philosophy? :D


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## Saith (Apr 16, 2011)

Legendaryseeker99 said:


> Okay, here's a rather large collection.
> 
> 
> How will I know why my Internet stopped working
> ...


None of these are Philosophy! D':


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## shy ♡ (Apr 16, 2011)

Okay, actual philosophy! What do you guys think about moral relativism?



> Meta-ethical relativists believe not only that people disagree about moral issues, but that terms such as "good," "bad," "right" and "wrong" do not stand subject to universal truth conditions at all. Rather, they describe societal conventions and personal preference. Meta-ethical relativists are, firstly, descriptive relativists: they believe that, given the same set of facts, some societies or individuals will have a fundamental disagreement about what one ought to do (based on societal or individual norms). What's more, they argue that one cannot adjudicate these disagreements using some independent standard of evaluation — the standard will always be societal or personal.





> According to Richard Garner and Bernard Rosen,  there are three kinds of meta-ethical problems, or three general questions:
> 
> 1. What is the meaning of moral terms or judgments?
> 2. What is the nature of moral judgments?
> ...


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## Teh Ebil Snorlax (Apr 16, 2011)

opaltiger said:


> Call your ISP?
> 
> Because you're mixing metaphors.
> 
> ...





Hoity Toity said:


> None of these are Philosophy! D':


I'm pretty sure you just got trolled. Those are Philosoraptor quotes.


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## Superbird (Apr 16, 2011)

Is there a god?

I got nothin'.


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## opaltiger (Apr 16, 2011)

Teh Ebil Snorlax said:


> I'm pretty sure you just got trolled. Those are Philosoraptor quotes.


Yes, I know (the format rather gives it away). So?


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## Tailsy (Apr 16, 2011)

Why do burps consisting of multiple previously-consumed delicious food items (ex. smoky bacon crisps + irn-bru) taste so rank?


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## Murkrow (Apr 16, 2011)

If cats meow and dogs bark, what do we do?


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## Saith (Apr 16, 2011)

Teh Ebil Snorlax said:


> I'm pretty sure you just got trolled. Those are Philosoraptor quotes.


But raptors can't be philosafists!



			
				Pathos said:
			
		

> Philosophy!


:D

Personally, I agree with it, that ethics are decided solely by societal norms.
You just have to look at history even slightly to see this. We see, for example, the Roman vandalism of culturally or religiously significant places and monuments as horrible, whereas for them it was necessary.

Or for a better example:

We see genocide as wrong, whereas Israeli children are brought up to believe that when certain historical figures wiped out complete cultures to protect the Jewish one, they were doing the right thing.

'Course, just because people have differing opinions on ethics doesn't mean that they're all equally valid.
But I guess I follow Socrates when he said that a man will never do what he knows is evil, for that will tear him away inside. Or something like that.

So if these people truly believe what they're doing is right, we may not have any more right than they to decide what is 'good', and rather what is 'valid'.

Or something. That was just one big ramble. >.<


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## Cap'n Sofa (Apr 16, 2011)

Rasrap Smurf said:


> If cats meow and dogs bark, what do we do?


We probably used to scream until we came up with language. Now we talk.

Anyway, as many people are saying, morals are subjective. Different cultures and even just two different people may have different codes of morals.


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## Not Meowth (Apr 16, 2011)

Rasrap Smurf said:


> If cats meow and dogs bark, what do we do?


We talk. "Bark" and "meow" are just names for specific noises dogs and cats make, since they also growl and snarl and whimper and purr and stuff.


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## shy ♡ (Apr 16, 2011)

Hoity Toity said:


> whereas Israeli children are brought up to believe that when certain historical figures wiped out complete cultures to protect the Jewish one, they were doing the right thing.


wat

What are you referring to specifically?


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## Saith (Apr 16, 2011)

I'm pretty sure it was on a Dawkins program on Channel 4 (maybe the Edge of Reason?).
But yeah, maybe pretend I didn't say it? Sorry...


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## shy ♡ (Apr 16, 2011)

No need to apologize, I just want to know what you're on about. Because I'm confused?


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## Saith (Apr 16, 2011)

I pretty much only remember him asking some Israeli kids why Hitler was bad, and their answers were pretty much 'Who's Hitler?' or 'He killed lots of Jews'.

And then he asked them what they thought of [that guy with the horn of Jericho], [that guy who spared only the whore who let his army into the city] and [that guy who brought the deaths of the Egyptian first born sons], and their reactions were all pretty much 'Well that was different, because it was for the Jews'.

I have no sources, and I may be making this up. I'm not sure any more, sorry. >.<


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## Lili (Apr 17, 2011)

If Ron Weasley is magic... why is he still ginger?


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## Aletheia (Apr 17, 2011)

Oh boy. I've started a trollfest, haven't I?

Edit: But damn am I proud of it.


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## ... (Apr 17, 2011)

Memory. It's the good things we never remember and the bad things we never forget.


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## Lili (Apr 17, 2011)

What language do deaf people think in?


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## Superbird (Apr 17, 2011)

Lili said:


> What language do deaf people think in?


I'd say they think in pictures (hey, I do sometimes), if they were born deaf from birth. Or maybe in Sign Language. Or in whatever written language they were first taught.


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## Sesquipedalian! (Apr 18, 2011)

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop?



Pathos said:


> Okay, actual philosophy! What do you guys think about moral relativism?


It may be possible that the subjectivity of morality between societies is simply related to the progress of philosophical thought in the individual societies themselves? But in such a case one may note that the standards to actually "measure" the progress of a society's philosophical thought would be subjective in themselves due to varying comparisons with the philosophical thought of the measurer in question.


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## surskitty (Apr 18, 2011)

Sesquipedalian! said:


> How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop?


1216.

I checked.


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## Adriane (Apr 18, 2011)

Lili said:


> What language do deaf people think in?


Whatever language they're most familiar with, assumedly. I'm half-deaf and I think in English, and I can't imagine it being much different for anyone fully-deaf. After all, deaf people are perfectly capable of understanding grammar and language, even if they don't *hear* it.


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## Karkat Vantas (Apr 18, 2011)

Fluttershy ♥;485839 said:
			
		

> Whatever language they're most familiar with, assumedly. I'm half-deaf and I think in English, and I can't imagine it being much different for anyone fully-deaf. After all, deaf people are perfectly capable of understanding grammar and language, even if they don't *hear* it.


But would you hear English? Being able to read English doesn't mean you know how it sounds.


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## Tailsy (Apr 18, 2011)

You don't need to hear anything to think it.


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## Adriane (Apr 18, 2011)

Karkat Vantas said:


> But would you hear English? Being able to read English doesn't mean you know how it sounds.


Deaf people can still 'read lips' and _make_ sound.


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## 1. Luftballon (Apr 18, 2011)

while we're on this subject, consider Mary's room.


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## Karkat Vantas (Apr 18, 2011)

surskitty said:


> You don't need to hear anything to think it.


If they're thinking in text, then yes.

But otherwise, if they've never heard anything in their life... this could be interesting.


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## Flareth (Apr 18, 2011)

I have a weird one.

If somehow you went back in time and while you were there, your birthday passed, would you technically age? I mean, your body would probably still age, but would you actually be turning the age you would be?


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## opaltiger (Apr 18, 2011)

Flareth said:


> I have a weird one.
> 
> If somehow you went back in time and while you were there, your birthday passed, would you technically age? I mean, your body would probably still age, but would you actually be turning the age you would be?


Why would it matter if your birthday passed? So long as enough time passed that you'd have reached your next birthday had you not gone back in time, then yes? But obviously not if you went back in time two days the day after your birthday (do not collect $200).


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## Flareth (Apr 18, 2011)

What I mean is...if you travelled a few years back and and during that stay in that time, you had a birthday in that time.

Well, thanks for the help anyway...(Knew I'd confused myself by asking this question x3)


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